Top 10 Greatest Marathon Runners of the World

In 490 BC Pheidippides, the Greek hero ran 34.5 km (21.4 miles) for his country and died after giving the message to his countrymen. Thus, marathon has a very noble history associated with it. Most of us cannot imagine of running such a distance and that is why Marathon is such an attractive event in any games.

Here, I have compiled a list of 10 of the greatest marathon runners of in the world. They are real heroes.

Image Link: Wikipedia

Paula Jane Radcliffe

Radcliffe is the most famous marathoner off the present world. She is now holding the world record for women’s marathon. This talented English marathoner has become the world champion in marathon in the Helsinki world championship held in 2005. His record breaking time in the London Marathon in 2003 was 2:15:25. Earlier in her career she was not a marathoner rather she used to compete in cross country events and 5000m and 10000m events. Later in 2002, Radcliffe started running in the marathon race and got a huge success. She has already won London Marathon several times, Chicago Marathon and New York marathon. She is also well known for her activities protesting doping. Radcliffe always wears a red band ribbon as a part of showing her support to the process of identifying the drug positive players through blood testing.

Image Link: Wikipedia

Rosa Mota

Rosa Maria Correia dos Santos Mota is one of the great marathoners in the history of marathon. This Portuguese former marathoner is one of those women who first participated in Olympic Games in 1984 as this event was first introduced in for female in this year and she is the first gold medal winner in the European Championship in 1982 as this event for women was first introduced in this year. Here, it is also noteworthy that women’s marathon was first included in the Olympic Games in 1984 in Los Angles and in that tournament she won bronze medal for her country. However, she won gold medal in the next Seoul Olympic in 1988. So, in her career she saw some of the revolutionary changes for the women’s marathon and getting success in those tournaments she contributed a lot in the development of this event. She was awarded the Abebe Bikila Award for her such contribution. She was also an Olympic torch bearer for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games.

Mizuki Noguchi

This Japanese marathoner is one of the famous marathoners of the present world. She is the Gold medalist of the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. She started competing in the long distance running competitions while she was in the middle school. After getting success in the national stage, she started competing in the Half marathon competitions where she got many successes and at one stage she was called “Queen of the Half Marathon”. Later in 2002, she became a full marathon runner and won the Nagoya International Women’s Marathon. After that her performance Graf was upward. Before winning the Olympic Gold medal in2004, she won a silver medal in the world championship in 2003.

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Joan Benoit Samuelson

Joan Benoit is the first Olympic Gold medalist in female marathon event in the 1984 Los Angles Olympic Games as this event was first introduced in that Olympic tournament for female. In that tournament she had to compete with some of the legendary figure of the Marathon world. She broke world record several times in her career. This talented athlete was awarded the James E. Sullivan Award in the year after winning Olympic Gold. After taking retirement she wrote a book titled “Running Tide and Running for Women”. She became a coach later on.

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Naoko Takahashi

This legendary Japanese marathon racer was the first women marathoner who broke the barrier of the 2 hours and 20 minutes in the way of making a world record in the 2001 Berlin Marathon. Takahashi won the Olympic Gold medal in the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games in marathon. She is still the record holder of Berlin Marathon and the proud owner of 7^th fastest time in the world marathon.

Cogwagee (Thomas Longboat)

Thomas Longboat is one of the greatest marathon runners in the marathon history. He started running at the age of 18 and he contributed a lot in this event. He first came in to focus through winning the Boston Marathon with a record braking timing. He became professional at the marathon track in 1908. He came up with some of the modern and scientific ideas which made him face many controversies. For example, after a race he was used to rest and take a long walk as a part of recovery. Though it is followed by all the marathon runners, it was not so easy to make people understand that this taking rest is necessary for a runner to get back his or her strength for the next competition. An award titled “Tom Longboat Awards” is now available for the leading marathon runners of different provinces in Canada. Through the Toronto Island 10 km. race, he is remembered in every year.

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Juho Pietari "Hannes" Kolehmainen

“Flying Finns” nicknamed this marathoner is one of the best of this event’s history. He showed his skill in long distance running as well as he won four Olympic Gold medals in long distance running including one in Marathon. Earlier he did not participate in Marathon rather he was popular for 5000 and 10000 m race. However, he proved his talent in Marathon winning the Gold medal in the first Olympic Games in 1920 after the WW I. This Finish marathon racer was one of the torch bearers of the 1952 Helsinki Olympic Games.

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Paul Kibii Tergat

Tergat is one of the most influential marathon runners at the present world. He currently holds the world record for Marathon race. He made his world record in Berlin in 2003. His magical timing was 2:04:55. He is best known for his tremendous performance in Saint Silvester Marathon which is the most important in Latin America. He won this race 5 times for which he is very famous in Brazil and after Nelson Mandela he is the most celebrated African personality in Brazil. His significant contribution to marathon earned IAAF World Cross Country Championships title for five consecutive times. He became a “Ambassador against hunger" for the UN World Food Program (WFP).

Abebe Bikila

This Ethiopian marathon racer is considered as the greatest marathon racer in the history of Marathon. He had two Olympic Gold medals in marathon. In the way of his first gold medal winning Olympic competition in 1960 in Rome with new world record and he ran barefooted. In Addis Ababa, a stadium was named after his name as a part of showing honor to this person. He also made another world record in the way of winning his second Olympic gold medal in 1964 in Tokyo.

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Evans Rutto

This Kenyan marathon racer has a decent record in Marathon. He made debutant world record time for Chicago Marathon in 2003 and he also won 2004 London marathon and Chicago marathon. His highest timing is also very close to the world record timing which is 2: 04:55. He also got success in other events of long distance competition.

Image Link: BBC